Systems and methods for two-way communications in an oilfield setting
A method for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software and a user of the drilling advisory software includes receiving a drilling data memo, the drilling data memo comprising drilling data; classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type; extracting at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data; utilizing the drilling memo feature to update the drilling advisory software; and providing a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/261,176, filed Sep. 14, 2021, and titled “Systems and Methods for Two-Way Communications in an Oilfield Setting,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention is directed to systems and methods for improving communications. More specifically, the invention is directed to systems and methods for two-way communications in an oilfield setting for improving oilfield operations.
SUMMARYThe following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented elsewhere
According to one embodiment, a method for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software and a user of the drilling advisory software includes receiving a drilling data memo, the drilling data memo comprising drilling data; classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type; extracting at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data; utilizing the drilling memo feature to update the drilling advisory software; and providing a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
In another embodiment, a system for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software for a well and a user of the drilling advisory software includes a computing device having a processor in data communication with computer memory. The computer memory has instructions that, when effected by the processor, perform the following steps: receive a drilling data memo, the drilling data memo comprising drilling data; classify the drilling data memo into a memo type; if the drilling data memo is not able to be classified, communicate with the user at least one query related to the drilling data such that the drilling data memo can be classified into a memo type; after the drilling data memo is classified, extract at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data; update the drilling advisory software using the drilling memo feature; and provide a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
According to a further embodiment, a method for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software for a well and a user of the drilling advisory software includes receiving a drilling data memo into the drilling advisory software, the drilling data memo comprising drilling data; classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type; if the drilling data memo is not able to be classified, communicating with the user at least one query related to the drilling data such that the drilling data memo can be classified into a memo type; and after classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type, extracting at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data.
Lost circulation is an uncontrolled flow of wellbore fluids into a well formation and can result in well control problems. Not only can this lead to hole stability issues, but also differential sticking. Kick, which is the opposite of lost circulation, is a fluid influx from the formation. Kick and lost circulation events are large contributors to non-productive time in oilwell drilling. Early detection of kicks is essential in preventing possible blowouts and to improve the safety of crew at the drilling rig. Detecting and capturing both these events quickly helps to reducing non-productive time.
Detecting lost circulation and kick events is often difficult using just surface signals. Traditionally, alarm systems have been used to identify abnormal mud volume changes and flow rates. However, these signals often vary significantly due to surface activities, which can lead to many false alarms. Downhole monitoring can provide a more representative and real-time look at what is occurring downhole, such as the pressure comparisons between the bore pressure and the downhole pressure. Unfortunately, however, tools like these are often expensive and are not present in all well construction operations, and have their own issues with false alarms. Models have also been created to provide an accurate estimate of expected mud volumes and flow rates to provide tight alarm bounds for early detection of well control events. However, these models still generally have trouble accounting for the many surface activities that affect total pit volume measurements. Therefore, a systems and methods that use surface data to identify lost circulation and kick events accurately while accounting for surface activities would be helpful for reducing false and missed alarms.
Embodiments of systems and methods that utilize a Bayesian network to aggregate trends detected in time-series data with events identified by natural language processing (NLP) of driller memos critical to greatly improve the accuracy and robustness of kick and lost circulation detection are described herein. More specifically, the systems and methods described herein are directed to the use of drilling memos, Bayesian networks, and surface activity monitoring to monitor losses and gains using a filtered pit volume. As is detailed below, real-time drilling memos are classified and consumed by drilling advisory software within a two-way communications system to improve pit activity, lost circulation, and kick detection. These drilling memos may also provide drillers direct communication with the system to tweak beliefs and provide additional information. Surface activities such as mud transfers, pit changes, and pump changes are identified using surface data and drilling memos and are used to filter out the noise from the total mud volume signals. Using a filtered loss gain rate and other surface parameters such as flow rate out trends and pressure trends, abnormal loss and abnormal gain beliefs are generated and used to identify possible lost circulation and kick events. The performance of the system may be validated using drilling daily reports that provide information on lost circulation and kick events in the well.
The systems and methods described herein may be implemented in software that is currently running on drilling rigs, the software of course being modified in accordance with the teachings disclosed herein. The artisan will understand that the embodiments disclosed herein may include or have associated therewith electronics (e.g., a computing system, data servers, one or more processors, etc., executing one or more lines of code). The electronics may be used to control and modify the operation of the software (e.g., directing a motor and/or actuator function). In some example embodiments, processor or processors may be configured through particularly configured hardware, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc., and/or through execution of software to allow the systems and methods to function in accordance with the disclosure herein. Likewise, the system may make use of a graphical user interface, or other kind of machine-to-human interface, to carry out embodiments of the functions and features described herein. The processor may include any processor used in smartphones and/or other computing devices, including an analog processor (e.g., a Nano carbon-based processor). In certain embodiments, the processor may include one or more other processors, such as one or more microprocessors, and/or one or more supplementary co-processors, such as math co-processors.
In testing, it was surprisingly found that it was possible to identify and quantify losses even during connections and mud additions, where usually pit volume was increasing despite continual losses. The real-time, simultaneous analysis of driller memos provides context to pit volume trends and further reduces the false alarms. The modified software is also able to take account of pit volume that is reduced due to drilling. Quantification of the losses offers more insight into what lost circulation material to use and the changes in the rate of loss while drilling. The approach was found to be very robust in discovering kicks as well and differentiating it from mud removal and wellbore breathing events.
This is the first time that patterns in mud volume addition and removal detected from time-series data have been used along with driller memos using natural language processing (NLP) to reduce false alerts in kick and lost circulation detection. The systems and methods described herein may be particularly useful in identifying kick and lost circulation events from pit volume data, especially when good flow-in and flow-out sensors are not available. Accordingly, one objective is to provide systems and methods for detecting and quantifying lost circulation and kick events using readily available, real-time surface signals.
DefinitionsListed below are definitions of various terms used to describe the invention. The definitions apply to the terms as they are used throughout this specification and claims, unless other limited in specific instances, either individually or as part of a larger group.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein generally have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Generally, the nomenclature used herein and the procedures are those well-known and commonly employed in the art.
As used herein, the term “drilling memo” means a string that contains a message generated automatically on the rig or written by rig personnel. A drilling memo may contain most vernacular text as well as standard messages. Drilling memos provide the means for allowing rig personnel to communicate with drilling advisory software. As described in detail below, drilling memos may be spoken and converted into text (according to processes known in the art) and fed to the drilling advisory software for use. Drilling memos may generally fall into one of two categories: memos that provide information, and memos that ask questions to the drilling advisory software.
As used herein, “drilling advisory software” means a real-time drilling analytics backend software package that consumes the drilling memos. The drilling advisory software includes a chat-bot, which is described in greater detail below.
As used herein, the term “pump sweep” means adding a fluid mixture to the wellbore that is pumped downhole. A pump sweep may be used, e.g., to clean the wellbore.
As used herein, the term “raw data” means data coming from other sources, such as a data aggregator at the edge (e.g., drilling rig) or data stored in a private or public cloud.
As used herein, “contextual data” means non time-series data such as a morning report or survey data.
As used herein, the term “memo type” means a grouped category of drilling memos. The term includes types such as SWEEP, TRANSFER, and UNKNOWN. As is detailed below, the memo type is used to organize drilling memos into different groups.
As used herein, “chat-bot” refers to a bot that is housed within the drilling advisory software. The bot interacts with the user as described herein to clarify questions, drilling memos, and to provide information and answers to users.
System Architecture
As can be seen in
The drilling memo data 204a may include a variety of messages ranging from automatic messages about connection depths, for example, to comments that rig personnel put into the system. Whatever the subject of the drilling memo 204a, the drilling memo data 204a includes two key elements: Date Time and Drilling Memo.
The “drilling memo” is a string that the rig or personnel writes. Note that drilling memos can be written by users and/or automatically generated (such as a message indicating that a condition is met, for example, a connection). The messages generated by the rig may be informed by one or more sensors operably configured to provide a drilling memo 204a for use by the drilling advisory software 200. The “date time” is the time when the drilling memo 204a is written, not when the drilling memo 204a is received by the drilling advisory software 200. This is important because the drilling advisory software 200 may be configured to only use drilling memos 204a that are close in time to the current real-time data stream. The exact time threshold may be predetermined and the drilling advisory software 200 may be configured to only utilize those memos 204a which fall within the predetermined threshold. For example, while a drilling memo 204a can be inserted at any time, if the event occurred outside the predetermined threshold (e.g., 10 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, etc.), it may be stored but not used by the drilling advisory software 200.
Table 1 illustrates examples of drilling memo data 204a. The examples provided in Table 1 are only a fraction of the many varieties of drilling memo data that may be experienced by the system 100. During testing, over 490,000 memos were generated from over 270 wells. While the memos in this table provide notes of what is occurring during the drilling process, they can also be direct messages to the drilling advisory software 200 with queries or other additional information.
The drilling memos 204a provide an interface to consume textual information that can be both automated messages and vernacular messages. Events like pump sweeps that are not easily detected by real-time surface channels can easily be identified by drilling memos that identify the start and stop of the pump sweep. With this information, the drilling advisory software can monitor the start of the sweep and determine the sweep location in the wellbore.
Drilling memo data 204a may be provided to the drilling advisory software 200 as a real-time input, e.g., in CSV format. The CSV may be updated whenever new drilling memo data 204a is provided. While real-time channels such as total mud volume, flow rate out, and pressure measurements provide insight into potential lost circulation and kick events, drilling memo data 204a provides additional details into events and actions that could affect these real-time channels.
In addition to drilling memo data 204a, the drilling advisory software 200 uses real-time data 204b (e.g., well-site information transfer standard markup language (WITSML), which allows for the drilling rig to communicate data to the user as is known to those of skill in the art) and contextual data 204c (e.g., from well integrity software, such as WellView® or OpenWells®) to perform calculations. The drilling memo data 204a supplements the real-time data 204c and the contextual data 204c.
The use of drilling memo data 204a allows for two-way real-time communication between the drilling advisory software 200 and the user (e.g., rig/office personnel). By consuming the drilling memos 204a and providing the rig a relationship and direct communication with the lost circulation and kick models, the drilling advisory software 200 can utilize both surface channels and textual information from drilling memos 204a to identify events.
To use the drilling memo data 204a, the software 200 is configured to classify the drilling memo data 204a into a grouped memo type and then extract information from the drilling memos 204a.
The classifier 202c may be a maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model found in the OpenNLP library, for example. The classifier 202c may be trained using a semi-supervised method based on drilling memos 204a from multiple wells. For example, during testing, the classifier 202c was trained using a semi-supervised method on a dataset with nearly 500,000 drilling memos from over 250 wells. The training requires first clustering data to find general groups that can be placed into memo types. Certain clusters may be merged depending on the general contents of the cluster. Manually labeling through a script may be completed to label certain strings in drilling memos that could fit in certain memo types.
Before the data may be clustered, the drilling memo data 204a is preferably cleansed using one or more scripts to remove certain words to clean up the string. Exemplary cleansing which may be made to the drilling memo data 204a to improve the performance of the clustering algorithm used may include, for example, converting similar words to help with clustering (e.g., m/w, m_w, mwi are all converted to mw), removing special character, removing numbers, removing punctuation, stemming (reducing inflected/derived words to the base form, e.g., eating→eats, eats→eat), removing stop words, removing extra white space and tabs, and modifying all text to lowercase lettering.
After filtering through a script, the data may be clustered using a KMeans clustering algorithm with 100 clusters.
Each cluster in
New data may be used to improve the model. In such a case, the previous process is repeated: the data is labeled and then the classifier is trained. However, this process is only required for the new memo data that is trained. This can then be added to the previous model that was already trained. The final trained classifier 202c can correctly classify drilling memos into memo types with approximately 98% accuracy.
With a trained dataset, most memos 204a provide generic information about the well rather than asking specific questions to the drilling advisory software 200. For questions that are directed to the drilling advisory software 200, they would fall in the software memo type. For example, a “Formation” drilling memo may read: “80_DOLOMITE_10 SANDSTONE 10_ANHYDRITE_5080FT.” A “Connection” drilling memo may read: “Connection @ 8324.5.” And “Software Command” drilling memos may read: “Change the stick slip threshold to 0.7” or “How could I improve ROP?”, for example. While the formation memo type provides information to the drilling advisory software 200, the “Software Command” memos are either requests or questions posed directly to the software 200. In other words, the formation memo can be used to provide additional data to formation related models, but the questions and requests to the drilling advisory software 200 require the software 200 to make a change or provide an answer.
Referring again to the process outlined in
It is necessary to classify drilling memos 204a into memo types to understand what type of features should be used to extract the information. In some instances, drilling memo data 204a may be classified into more than one group memo type and the information extracted for use in multiple ways within the software 200. For example, a SWEEP memo type may identify the start of a memo while a BACK_ACTIVE memo type may identify the end of the SWEEP mud addition.
Once the drilling memo 204a is classified into one or more memo types, the feature extraction memo model 202b extracts relevant information from the drilling memo 204a. By classifying each drilling memo 204a into a memo type, such as those described above, the software 200 can determine what type of method is used to extract information from the drilling memo 204a. In other words, the memo type serves as a method of organizing the drilling memos 204a, and once organized, features are used to utilize the text within the memos 204a.
For each memo type, a method/feature must be created to extract the information from the actual memo string. This can be different for every memo type. For example, for a SURVEY type, the software may be configured to extract total vertical depth, azimuth, and inclination data. For a TRANSFER type, the software is configured to identify if the memo is a start or a stop of a transfer event. For a SENTINEL type, the software determines what property to change within the drilling advisory software.
There may be multiple extraction methods utilized for a single memo type given the variety of drilling memos 204a that can fall under a category. The methods may also change depending on how the extracted information is used in various models. For example, the FORMATION memo type normally includes formation percentages at a given depth. This information can be used in several models, such as the loss gain model as well as the drilling dysfunction model. Therefore, this memo 204a may require several methods to extract information that is pertinent to each of the models the data is supplementing.
Once features have been extracted from the drilling memos 204a, they can be utilized in the various models within the drilling advisory software 200. Several drilling memos 204a may be used to supplement the loss gain model, the pump sweep model, and the advisory software configurations for example. However, additional features may be added, and other memos 204a may be used to supplement other models within the advisory software 200 not specifically described herein.
Any relevant information from memos 204a to the drilling advisory software 200 can be utilized so long as a feature is developed to consume the valuable information in the drilling memo 204a. Some examples of memo utilization include pump sweep detection using sweep memos; detecting pit volume transfer events and whether they are adding or removing mud; changing configuration settings in the drilling advisory software, including changing parameters such as belief thresholds or constants; updating survey information using real-time survey points; and receiving mud log formation data for ROP models and improving dysfunction detection.
When a drilling memo 204a is classified and its features extracted and used in a model, it is important that the user is aware of what the memo 204a is used for.
One key aspect of the invention is the ability for two-way interactions between the user (through drilling memos) and the software 200 (through output strings), and the utilization of user and rig information to supplement models, included within the drilling advisory software 200. To accomplish this, information regarding how the drilling memos are used in the features may also be presented through the chat-bot 202a that lets the user know what the software 200 is doing with the drilling memos 204a. For example, when a transfer event is detected and the transfer feature is used to extract the information, the software package may return the following string as an event: “Decreasing transfer event has been detected from drilling memos. The belief is 17.6%.”
As briefly noted above, the chat-bot 202a may also be used for drilling memos 204a that are either questions or not understood by the memo type classifier 202c. Having a chat-bot 202a within the software 200 helps pinpoint the intentions of the user and provides interaction and communication between the software 200 and the user. The chat-bot 202a may help with more vernacular drilling memos 204a where the drilling advisory software 200 is not interpreting a standard text, but rather a question or message from the user, for example. The chat-bot 202a may attempt to categorize the memo type. However, for questions that the user has, this requires the questions to be mapped to a certain response. By using a chat-bot 202a, the user may be guided into an answer that the drilling advisory software 200 will provide.
For drilling memos 204a that are not understood by the drilling advisory software 200, the drilling advisory software 200 may be configured to communicate that the drilling memo 204a is not understood and ask the user for additional information through the chat-bot 202a. The drilling advisory software 200 may also clarify for the user what types of messages it may understand better. This is done through messages from the drilling advisory software 200, posing inquiries via the chat-bot 202a. The chat-bot 202a may also provide suggestions to hone down the question from the user.
The chat-bot 202a may help the software 200 understand what memo type the drilling memo text falls under. If needed, the chat-bot 202a can also help specify what type of feature is used to extract the information. For questions to the drilling advisory software 200, there may be predefined answers. While the answers may be predefined, they are also dynamic in nature. For example, the answers can be calculations using outputs stored in the software. In some embodiments, the answers are textual.
An example of a chat-bot interaction is shown in
If no answer is found, the advisory software 200 may answer that it is unable to answer the question and give some suggestions for other answers.
Any interaction with the chat-bot 202a can also be done through using voice messages which are converted to text according to known techniques.
As previously described, the chat-bot 202a may also provide users with information on how each drilling memo 204a is utilized. This provides feedback to the user on how memos 204a are being utilized within the drilling advisory software 200 and how the memos 204a are contributing to the models.
In the tree structure illustrated in
This tree structure can be used to easily add responses or commands for different categories within the drilling advisory software 200. It also provides the flow the chat-bot uses when interacting with the user on how to navigate to a specific answer to their question or command. If the user's text is very clear, the command or message can be directly accessed without needing to navigate through all the previous categories. However, this provides a structure to navigate to an answer if the drilling advisory software 200 is unable to directly interpret the message.
If the chat-bot 202a is used, additional messages may be written in the drilling memo data 204a when the user replies and interacts with the chat-bot 202a. As shown in
Thus, the chat-bot 202a may act as an interface between the user and the software 200. This is used to communicate all information between the software 200 and the user. This includes messages related to when a drilling memo 204a is read by the software 200, how the drilling memo 204a is utilized within the software 200, asking for clarification about a drilling memo 204a, communication between the software 200 and user to hone down memo type, and answers to user's questions.
Referring again to
Total pit volume offers some insight into potential lost circulation and kick events. However, the total pit volume is often plagued by noise from miscellaneous surface activities that often appear as possible influxes and losses.
To use total pit volumes as a measure of lost circulation and kick events, mud volume data from the sensors must be adjusted to only represent volume changes due to downhole events rather than surfaces activities. Therefore, a method was developed to filter out, in real-time, connection flow back, pump activity flow back, mud additions, mud removals, and pit changes. By filtering out these mud-volume affecting activities in real-time, an adjusted total mud volume can be created. The adjusted volume is called the loss gain volume (depicted in the example in
To identify connection flow back events, block height, total pump output, total mud volume, bit depth, and hole depth may be used to determine the start and end of a connection flow back event. Block height and total pump output may be used to identify the start of the connection when pumps are shut off and block height is lowered all the way to the bottom. The connection flow back flag is flagged as true until the total mud volume has reached its original starting value (accounting for losses/gains during the event), or a time threshold is passed.
Pump activity events may be identified by using a Bayesian network with four main features shown in
More specifically, the “pump activity memo” node takes into consideration drilling memos that indicate pump activity. The memos are used to increase the pump activity belief. The node utilizes memo types that are related to pump activities, such as RECYCLE_PUMP. The “pump activity flow change” node measures changes in total pump output rate to determine if there has been a pump rate change. The pump activity flow change node accounts for the size of the pump activity change. The “planned event” node determines if the pump activity show be an increase event or a decrease event. When pumps are turned on, pit volumes are expected to decrease, and when pumps are turned off, pit volumes are expected to increase. This is due to compressibility of mud fluid and wellbore breathing. Finally, the “connection flow back flag” node is used to prevent the pump activity belief from rising during connections.
Mud addition events may be identified by using a Bayesian network with four main features as shown in
More specifically, the “mud addition” network node for identifying mud addition events utilizes drilling memos (e.g., memo types categorized as SWEEP and TRANSFER) that indicate a mud addition, which increase the mud addition belief. The mud addition memo node helps to identify mud addition events as early as possible. The “mud addition linear regression” node is used to determine if there is a strong linear correlation in the total mud volume that would be expected to be seen when mud is consistently added to the pits. The mud additional linear regression node also accounts for changes in the flow rate out that may indicate a mud increase due to an influx event. The “pump activity flow back” node is used to prevent the mud addition belief from rising when there is pump activity. Because pump activity leads to either increases or decreases in pit volumes, pump activity may have similar signals to that of mud additions. Finally, the “connection flow back flag” is used to prevent the mud addition belief from rising when there is a connection flow back event. Like the pump activity flow back flag, a connection flow back may have signals that look like mud addition.
Mud removal events may be identified by using a Bayesian network with the four mains features as shown in
Pit change events are identified by observing rapid and instantaneous changes in the active total mud volume that indicate a pit is added or removed. These events are currently only considered when there are no other surface activities such as mud additions or connection flow backs.
By identifying surface activities that affect the total mud volume measurements, these activities can be filtered out of the total mud volume signals. As mentioned previously, the filtered signal is called loss gain volume, since it represents mud volume changes that are occurring due to downhole conditions independent of surface activities. With the new loss gain volume, the loss and gain rate can be measured by calculating the volume changes in the loss gain volume. Additionally, losses and gains can be estimated during surface activities by using historical volume changes right before the activity. These historical volume changes can also be accounted for when quantifying the surface activities such as connection flow back volumes and mud addition volumes.
With modeled loss gain volume, the loss and gain rates along with other parameters that can be used to identify possible lost circulation and kick events, a Bayesian network may be used identify these events. In the network, abnormal gain corresponds to a kick event and abnormal loss corresponds to a loss circulation event.
Thus has been described various features and components of systems and methods for providing two-way communication between a user and software. The systems and methods utilize software that is embodied in a computer and that receives and provides information to a user regarding various events that may occur during a well drilling operation.
Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as well as components not shown, are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Embodiments of the invention have been described with the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. A skilled artisan may develop alternative means of implementing the aforementioned improvements without departing from the scope of the invention. Further, it will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed within the scope of the disclosure. Further, various steps set forth herein may be carried out in orders that differ from those set forth herein without departing from the scope of the claimed methods. The specification shall not be restricted to the above embodiments. Any units of measurements provided herein are exemplary only and are not meant to specifically define the dimensions of the system.
Claims
1. A method for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software and a user of the drilling advisory software, comprising:
- receiving a drilling data in real-time from one or more surface sensors operably connected to a drilling rig, the drilling data including measurements of wellbore fluid parameters and contextual data associated with a drilling operation of the drilling rig;
- receiving, in real-time, a drilling data memo comprising drilling data generated during the drilling operation (including a memo automatically generated by a rig sensor or entered by rig personnel), the drilling data memo being time-stamped within a predetermined threshold of current drilling data;
- classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type using a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model is trained on historical drilling memos to categorize drilling data memos based on their content;
- extracting at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data memo after classification, wherein the drilling memo feature indicates a surface activity affecting a wellbore fluid volume or pit volume measurement;
- updating a lost-circulation or kick detection model of the drilling advisory software using the drilling memo feature in combination with the real-time drilling sensor data, wherein said updating adjusts the model to account for the surface activity indicated by the drilling data memo so that sensor anomalies caused by said surface activity are distinguished from actual loss or kick events;
- detecting a drilling event associated with the drilling operation in real-time by applying the updated lost-circulation or kick detection model, wherein the drilling event comprises an abnormal fluid gain or loss condition indicative of a kick or lost circulation;
- generating an alert to the user upon detecting the drilling event, the alert providing details of the detected drilling event and prompting the user for feedback via a user interface of the drilling advisory software;
- updating the drilling advisory software based on user feedback received in response to the alert, wherein the user feedback is used to refine or confirm the detected event and dynamically adjust the detection model to improve accuracy; and
- providing a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the drilling data memo comprises a user-generated memo.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising communicating with the user at least one query, wherein the query is related to the drilling data memo.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a second alert after the drilling advisory software is updated, wherein the second alert includes additional details related to the drilling event indicated by the drilling data memo.
5. A system for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software for a well and a user of the drilling advisory software, the system comprising a computing device comprising a processor in data communication with computer memory, the computer memory comprising instructions that, when effected by the processor, perform the following steps:
- receive a drilling data in real-time from one or more surface sensors operably connected to a drilling rig, the drilling data including measurements of wellbore fluid parameters and contextual data associated with a drilling operation of the drilling rig;
- receive, in real-time, a drilling data memo comprising drilling data generated during the drilling operation (including a memo automatically generated by a rig sensor or entered by rig personnel), the drilling data memo being time-stamped within a predetermined threshold of current drilling data;
- classify the drilling data memo into a memo type using a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model is trained on historical drilling memos to categorize drilling data memos based on their content;
- extract at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data memo after classification, wherein the drilling memo feature indicates a surface activity affecting a wellbore fluid volume or pit volume measurement;
- update a lost-circulation or kick detection model of the drilling advisory software using the drilling memo feature in combination with the real-time drilling sensor data, wherein said updating adjusts the model to account for the surface activity indicated by the drilling data memo so that sensor anomalies caused by said surface activity are distinguished from actual loss or kick events;
- detect a drilling event associated with the drilling operation in real-time by applying the updated lost-circulation or kick detection model, wherein the drilling event comprises an abnormal fluid gain or loss condition indicative of a kick or lost circulation;
- generate an alert to the user upon detecting the drilling event, the alert providing details of the detected drilling event and prompting the user for feedback via a user interface of the drilling advisory software;
- update the drilling advisory software based on user feedback received in response to the alert, wherein the user feedback is used to refine or confirm the detected event and dynamically adjust the detection model to improve accuracy; and
- provide a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when effected by the processor, further perform the following step: communicate with the user at least one query, wherein the query is related to the drilling data memo.
7. A method for providing two-way communications between a drilling advisory software for a drilling operation and a user of the drilling advisory software, comprising:
- receiving a drilling data in real-time from one or more surface sensors operably connected to a drilling rig, the drilling data including measurements of wellbore fluid parameters and contextual data associated with a drilling operation of the drilling rig;
- receiving, in real-time, a drilling data memo comprising drilling data generated during the drilling operation (including a memo automatically generated by a rig sensor or entered by rig personnel), the drilling data memo being time-stamped within a predetermined threshold of current drilling data;
- classifying the drilling data memo into a memo type using a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model is trained on historical drilling memos to categorize drilling data memos based on their content;
- extracting at least one drilling memo feature from the drilling data memo after classification, wherein the drilling memo feature indicates a surface activity affecting a wellbore fluid volume or pit volume measurement;
- updating a lost-circulation or kick detection model of the drilling advisory software using the drilling memo feature in combination with the real-time drilling sensor data, wherein said updating adjusts the model to account for the surface activity indicated by the drilling data memo so that sensor anomalies caused by said surface activity are distinguished from actual loss or kick events;
- detecting a drilling event associated with the drilling operation in real-time by applying the updated lost-circulation or kick detection model, wherein the drilling event comprises an abnormal fluid gain or loss condition indicative of a kick or lost circulation;
- generating an alert to the user upon detecting the drilling event, the alert providing details of the detected drilling event and prompting the user for feedback via a user interface of the drilling advisory software;
- updating the drilling advisory software based on user feedback received in response to the alert, wherein the user feedback is used to refine or confirm the detected event and dynamically adjust the detection model to improve accuracy; and
- providing a user memo to the user, wherein the user memo comprises information regarding how the drilling advisory software was updated.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the drilling data memo data is a question from the user to the drilling advisory software.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
- providing an answer to the question, the answer being based on data stored or accessible by the drilling advisory software and related to the drilling data memo.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Sep 13, 2022
Date of Patent: Dec 16, 2025
Assignee: Intellicess Inc. (Austin, TX)
Inventors: Michael Yi (Austin, TX), Pradeepkumar Ashok (Austin, TX)
Primary Examiner: Wei Y Zhen
Assistant Examiner: Amir Soltanzadeh
Application Number: 17/931,871
International Classification: G06F 8/65 (20180101); G06F 16/28 (20190101); G08B 21/18 (20060101);